O’Charley’s puts a positive spin on closing 17% of its portfolioO’Charley’s puts a positive spin on closing 17% of its portfolio

O’Charley’s — the Nashville, Tenn.-based casual-dining restaurant and bar chain — made the difficult decision last month to close 18 restaurants, or just around 17% of its total portfolio. The 50-year-old chain decided to prune lower-performing stores as a result of the challenging post-COVID inflationary environment, particularly commodities inflation, which led to compressed margins.

Ultimately, O’Charley’s CEO Craig Barber told Nation’s Restaurant News, the difficult decision came down to preserving cash flow, and being able to start the brand anew with a more asset-light portfolio.

Senior editor Joanna Fantozzi, who met with Barber, recapped that conversation for the podcast.